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Spring 2010 | |
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In Brief - Legal Aid's Newsletter |
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| FAP - Bryan's Story
 The Peninsula Family Advocacy Program (FAP) is a medical-legal partnership. FAP is a collaboration between Legal Aid, Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital, and Ravenswood Family Health Center. FAP also partners with the San Mateo Medical Center and its affiliated prenatal clinics. FAP works to improve the health and welfare of pregnant women, low income children and their families by providing legal representation, advocacy and education to help address underlying causes of poor health among low-income children. Read about how FAP was able to help Bryan and his family:
Brenda’s Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital (LPCH) social worker referred her to FAP after doctors told her that her four-year-old son Bryan needed brain surgery to alleviate his seizures. FAP not only helped Brenda obtain Medi-Cal coverage for Bryan’s care but also referred Brenda to Legal Aid’s family law attorney for advice on obtaining a divorce. The family law attorney also assisted her in filing a U-Visa immigration petition when FAP learned Brenda’s husband had been recently released from jail on domestic violence charges.
Bryan’s surgery a success, but when arranging follow-up care Brenda faced a new problem. Her estranged husband had enrolled Bryan in Kaiser without consulting Brenda. Kaiser would not pay for pay for surgery at a non-Kaiser hospital; Medi-Cal declined coverage because of the Kaiser insurance. Brenda, off work to help Bryan recover, began receiving bills saying she owed over $600,000. FAP worked with California Children’s Services (CCS) to cover the surgery; however, because of the Kaiser coverage, CCS ended its coverage so neither CCS, Medi-Cal, nor Kaiser would pay for necessary follow-up care by LPCH doctors.
After consulting with Bryan’s neurologist and neurosurgeon, the FAP Medical Director determined it would be detrimental to Bryan’s health for him to be released into Kaiser’s care so soon after the surgery. By advocating with Kaiser and with the attorney representing Bryan’s father in the divorce, FAP was able to help Brenda get Bryan the necessary follow-up care. Kaiser agreed to pay for Bryan’s care at LPCH during the month immediately following his surgery. FAP notified Medi-Cal, which immediately picked up and reactivated his coverage under CCS as well. Brenda was thrilled to pick up a prescription without worrying about being billed and thankful to FAP for being Bryan’s advocate.
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Legal Aid Society Brings on New Board Members
The Legal Aid Society of San Mateo County proudly welcomes three new members to its Board of Directors: Mary H. Lin, an attorney with Carr, McClellan, Ingersoll, Thompson & Horn, Stacey Keare, President of the Keare-Hodge Family Foundation and Jeffrey Hyman, Director Legal, Apple, Inc.
 Mary H. Lin, an attorney at Carr, McClellan, Ingersoll, Thompson & Horn in Burlingame focuses on working with high-net-worth individuals and advising them on their estate planning needs. Before joining Carr McClellan, Ms. Lin worked as a member of the in-house legal team of the biotechnology company, Amgen Inc., where she counseled clients on a wide variety of employee benefit and employment law issues. Ms. Lin received her J.D. at Harvard Law School and has a Bachelor of Commerce, with Distinction, from the University of Alberta (Edmonton, Alberta Canada).  Stacey Keare is President of the Keare-Hodge Family Foundation which focuses on health, education and human rights issues. A graduate of Stanford, Ms. Keare holds a Masters in Public Policy from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard and a J.D. from Hasting College of the Law. Ms. Keare practiced law at Hancock, Rothert and Bunshoft in San Francisco.
 Jeffrey Hyman is a Director in Apple Inc.’s Legal Department, where he handles a wide array of legal matters and transactions in support of Apple’s hardware products. Prior to joining Apple in 2008, Mr. Hyman was Group Counsel at Intel Corp, where he oversaw the legal support for various Intel divisions, including those responsible Intel’s wireless products and the new Intel Atom processor product line.
“We enthusiastically welcome Mary, Stacey & Jeff to the Legal Aid Society of San Mateo County Board of Directors. We are fortunate to have such talented and community-minded people to serve on our Board and to help us carry on Legal Aid’s mission of providing high quality civil legal services to thousands of low-income children, families and seniors in San Mateo County,” said Legal Aid President Lynne Esselstein.
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Pro Bono Opportunities
 Legal Aid holds three weekly housing clinics throughout the county. Residents are welcome to drop in and speak to an attorney. The clinics serve about 100 tenants each month and are staffed by volunteer attorneys from Bay Area law firms and corporations. To see attorneys from Intel Corporation and Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP in action at the Redwood City housing clinic click here. |
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Housing Attorney Gibson on the Radio
 A local radio show called "Your Legal Rights", hosted by Chuck Finney, San Mateo DA for Consumer Fraud, assists the general public with legal issues. On December 2, 2009, the show focused on Small Claims and Legal Aid Housing Attorney Shirley Gibson was invited to speak about landlord-tenant issues common to Small Claims Court. |
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Wells Fargo Supports Legal Aid
 In January, Legal Aid received a generous gift from Wells Fargo Bank in the amount of $5,000. The representatives from Wells Fargo toured the Legal Aid offices and presented the check to the Legal Aid Board of Directors. |
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FAP Collaborates on California Breathing Report
 The staff of the Family Advocacy Program helped write a recent California Breathing Report on code enforcement code enforcement policies and practices for dealing with moisture intrusion, ventilation, pest control and other housing issues that are particularly relevant to people with asthma. FAP often helps families that are having habitability issues that lead to asthma. The research for the report, Code Enforcement and Healthy Homes: An Analysis of Practices in Four Bay Area Counties, was conducted and compiled by a network of community-based medical legal partnerships like FAP. To read the full report click here. |
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13th Annual Awards Luncheon
 Once more Legal Aid’s annual luncheon was an outstanding success. Thanks to a hard-working Lunch Committee Co-Chaired by Ellen Winick Stross and Lori Lutzker, and Chair Emeritus George Corey, close to $300,000 was raised to help provide legal services to low-income people in need in San Mateo County.
Introduced by special friend Joe Cotchett, Judge Thelton E. Henderson’s keynote address inspired the audience with memories of early days as a young public interest attorney, heading the first Legal Aid office in East Palo Alto. Judge Mel Cohn, Ret. recounted Legal Aid’s founding by the San Mateo County Bar Association in 1959. Both judges applauded Legal Aid’s more than 50 years of service in San Mateo County. Presiding Judge Steve Hall introduced his fellow active and retired federal and state judges.
Especially touching was the story Legal Aid client Rosa Martinez told. Due to Social Security mistaking her identity for a Florida felon with the same name, Rosa’s benefits were cut off. Thanks to Legal Aid attorney Chris Douglas her benefits were restored and the damaging Social Security policy was stopped as a result of a class action suit.
Legal Aid presented awards to Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP, Susan Uccelli, Uccelli & Associates, Certified Shorthand Reporters, and Michèle M. Bissada, Flicker, Kerin, Kruger & Bissada LLP, in recognition of their work in ensuring justice for all in our community. Award winners also received special recognitions from state and local officials.
New Executive Director Lauren Zorfas welcomed the guests and accepted a $23,000 bequest from a client’s estate, presented by Board Treasurer Joseph Galligan. All guests went home with a special edition Legal Aid wine bag and the satisfaction of having helped ensure justice for all in their own small way.
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 Legal Aid Society of San Mateo County’s 19th Annual Golf Classic
Monday, June 14, 2010
Stanford University Golf Course
Master of Ceremonies:
Tom Vacar, Consumer Editor, KTVU/FOX2
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